


it's a hell of a feeling though

by bathtimefunduck, onefootonego (startingXI)



Series: Breaking Beakers [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: College!AU, Multi, punkband!alex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 18:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17188124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bathtimefunduck/pseuds/bathtimefunduck, https://archiveofourown.org/users/startingXI/pseuds/onefootonego
Summary: Alex on the other hand, is to wired to sleep. Even now, half a day before she performs, a familiar twist of nerves has settled in her stomach. She catches Lucy eyeing her in the rearview mirror “You’re gonna kick ass.” Lucy says, like it’s a fact.Alex rolls her eyes. “You don’t know that. All these bands are good.”“Yeah, but you havethathair and thatass.”“My hair and my ass aren’t going to be enough to impress the record labels.” Alex says, her voice soft, betraying the nerves.“But your music will.” Lucy says, and she says it so easily, with such confidence that while the knots are working themselves in Alex’s stomach, she feels a little lighter.





	it's a hell of a feeling though

**Author's Note:**

> so it only took two years, but here we are.

The name of the competition is hardly original, however the fifteenth annual Battle of the Bands competition carries more heft than any gig Alex has done before. Or so Kara mentioned to Maggie and Lucy in a text message that essentially said

**warning alex can get cranky before big shows**

to which both Maggie and Lucy replied some variation of

**we know.**

Which is the truth, it has been just over six months since they actually sat down and spoke words to each other about what exactly they were doing. Besides of course, going out for dinner together and pulling all nighters in the library together and getting drunk whilst playing Mario Kart together and, fucking. together.

They had labeled it as dating and pretty much gone on with the rest of their lives, telling Kara, of course, who was thrilled for them.

Which brought them to the now - four people plus two guitars and at least one piece of a drum kit jammed into Lucy’s car. Maggie called shotgun for the sheer pleasure of watching Kara and Alex contort themselves around Alex’s _precious_.

She looked at that damn guitar the same way she looked at them when they were naked.

Lucy got jealous sometimes, much to Maggie’s endless amusement.

“Mags, can you push your seat up some?” Alex asked.

Maggie rolled her eyes and pushed at the little lever on Lucy’s fancy-ass car, the kind that crept forward slowly, as if to antagonize anyone over the age of five seated behind it.

“How long is this drive?” Kara asks, from where she’s more or less wedged behind Lucy’s seat, gear in her lap.

“Three hours.” Lucy replies, adding “And if anyone asks ‘are we there yet’ I’m abandoning them on the side of the road.”

“What about pit stops?” Kara, again.

“You can ask for a pit stop Kara.” Lucy tells her, turning the car on “Does everyone have everything, because I really don’t want to turn around.”

“I have the snacks,” Alex called.

“A bag of oranges isn’t snacks!” said Kara.

Maggie and Lucy share a smirk. Oranges had totally become Their Thing. They’d been thrilled to find “Christmas Oranges” were a thing and had happily adopted that tradition between them.

“I have chips and stuff for you, don’t worry about it,” Alex replied.

“And stuff better be Twinkies.”

Maggie wrinkles her nose “Do they have to be Twinkies?”

“Yes.” Kara and Alex say at the same time.

“Jaundice,” Lucy muttered. “How do you not have jaundice?”

“Oranges,” Alex smirked.

“You guys and your oranges.” Kara wrinkles her nose “I don’t get it. And” she adds quickly “I don’t want or need to.”

“It’s not what you think.” Maggie tries to explain, but her grin does little to satiate Kara.

“I don’t believe you.” Kara counters “Not even a little bit.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kara,” Lucy says. “Grapefruits are what you’d use for what you’re thinking.”

*

They’re pulling onto the highway, and at this early hour it’s nearly empty - just big rigs and the occasional other car. Nearly immediately Kara seems to curl in on herself and with her head resting against the window, falls back asleep.

“You don’t have to miss the potholes, she’ll sleep right through them.”

“You are the worst big sister I’ve ever met,” Lucy shoots back.

She’s not. Lucy knows first hand she’s not. And Maggie, too, would kill for the devotion of the Danvers Sisters.

That doesn’t mean they won’t give her shit for it.

“Nah, if I was the worst I’d have brought nothing but _carrot sticks._ ”

Maggie turns to glare over the seat back. “I  _like_  carrot sticks.”

“I know,” Alex grins. “I brought you some.”

“You’re an ass, Danvers.”

“You like my ass, Sawyer.”

“Damn right I do. “ Maggie says, between yawns “Do you mind if I recline my seat?” she asks, hand coming to the button.

Alex snorts “There’s not much room, but sure.”

Carefully, Maggie reclines a fraction and she spends a few moments getting comfortable, before slipping in headphones and closing her eyes.

Alex on the other hand, is to wired to sleep. Even now, half a day before she performs, a familiar twist of nerves has settled in her stomach. She catches Lucy eyeing her in the rearview mirror “You’re gonna kick ass.” Lucy says, like it’s a fact.

Alex rolls her eyes. “You don’t know that. All these bands are good.”

“Yeah, but you have _that_  hair and that _ass_.”

“My hair and my ass aren’t going to be enough to impress the record labels.” Alex says, her voice soft, betraying the nerves.

“But your music will.” Lucy says, and she says it so easily, with such confidence that while the knots are working themselves in Alex’s stomach, she feels a little lighter.

Lucy drives with care. No matter what Alex had said, she gently glides around the worst of the potholes and slows to gentle the impact of the ones she can’t avoid. Kara snores up a storm while Maggie lets out the little wheezes both Alex and Lucy find adorable.

Two hours passes much more quickly than Alex had been prepared for.

As they roll into hour two, Kara stirs and grumbles something about needing the bathroom, and breakfast. The motion for a pit stop is seconded by Alex, who’s been nervously drinking more bottles of water than possibly necessary. A fact that stands stark when she tries to get out ordering proper breakfast food with

“I’ll just have an orange. I’ll be fine, you guys go ahead and order.”

It is not an effective strategy as both Lucy and Maggie look at her with a

_no-way-is-that-happening_

sort of look.

Even Kara gets in on it, turning her puppy eyes on her sister.

“Alex, let Lucy’s sweet sweet government money pay for a real breakfast,” Maggie coos.

“Why am I always buying?”

“You’re the only one here with a credit card,” Maggie laughs.

If her father ever found out she was feeding two girlfriends and an alien, there would be hell to pay. Lucy shrugs and waves her hand. “Fair enough. Order away.”

They don’t order nearly as much food as they could - mostly because Kara says something about wanting Twinkies. Alex gets away with ordering hashbrowns, while Maggie goes for some fruit concoction that has Kara wrinkling her nose. Only Lucy seems to eat a full meal, which she puts down to having to drive and not just be asleep for the past two hours.

By the time they get back on the road, there’s a little more traffic and Alex is twisting her hands in her lap. The nerves getting the better of her again. Being stuck in the car doesn’t help. She wants to be able to move around, to be able to check her guitar, to tune it and warm up. She feels constricted in the car, watching the landscape pass them by.

Maggie grumbles and raises her seat again. She couldn’t handle the nervous energy vibrating through Alex’s feet and into the seat back. “Lane-”

“You’d better not be about to ask if we’re there yet.”

“We’re not parked, so why would I ask?”

Lucy cut her eyes over at Maggie. “Fifteen minutes.”

Signs start to pop up for the Battle of the Bands, an uninspiring title for one of the heaviest hitting competitions of the year. When Lucy parks, finally, Alex practically jumps out of the car - the air is fresh and she’s able to stretch her aching limbs and just breathe a little bit more. Although the moment she starts to look around she can see other bands arriving, volunteers, more signs, the little details pointing to the fact that this is real. That this is happening.

She might be sick.

She turns back to the car and grabs her guitar case, figuring that spending some time away from the people and the noise, will help calm her nerves.

“Kara, any news from the boys?”

“They hit traffic. Might be another hour.”

Alex twitched.

Maggie and Lucy noticed. The took their places on either side of Alex, ready to begin their latest tradition- pre-show prep. Calming Alex down and getting her head in the zone was a job all its own, one Maggie and Lucy took on proudly. Maggie tugs the guitar out of Alex’s hands and passes it over to Kara. Lucy reaches her hands up to dig them into Alex’s deliciously soft buzz, scratching with the longest nails between them.

Maggie waits for Alex’s head to drop onto Lucy’s shoulder before wrapping herself around Alex’s back, squeezing her tightly around the middle.

They stand like that for a while, ignoring the curious looks of the other bands and just waiting for the tension and nerves to seep out of Alex.

It takes longer than normal, but in time Alex lets out a long sigh “I need to go check us in.” she says, eyeing the entrance “and then I want to check my guitar over.”

There is no point in reminding Alex that she checked her guitar last night, she is a performer of habit. She likes being set in her ways, and likes the comfort that pre-show routine brings.

“We’ll start unloading the gear from the car.” Maggie offers, nodding to Kara.

“Let’s go get you booked in.” Lucy says, taking Alex’s hand.

The line to check in curls around the corner and Alex finds herself rocking on her heels as an excuse to work out some of the nervous energy. She can feel Lucy next to her, fingers still loosely tangled with her own. Lucy is calm, cool, studying the line in front of them until

“This way.” Lucy says, tugging Alex into side stepping out of line and towards what seems to be a much smaller queue.

“What,” Alex protests only halfheartedly, she’s not keen on spending all morning waiting in line “but the line?”

“I think check in is alphabetical.” Lucy says grinning “Which means you get to go to the A-D line, which is, proportionally, much smaller.”

“So why is there a massive line back there?” Alex asks, still trailing a step behind Lucy as they round the corner and -

“Because people are historically uncreative when it comes to naming things?” Lucy offers as a response. ”I’m just glad you guys didn’t use that stupid heavy metal font.”

“Kara would never let us.”

“That’s fair,” Lucy says. She shoves Alex into the line and stepped to walk beside her rather than taking up line space. “Where’s the rest of the band?”

“Somewhere?” Alex shrugs and checks her phone. “Uh… waiting outside for our passes, apparently. They got here half an hour ago.”

“And didn’t bother to sign in?”

Alex shrugs again, offering a teasing smile. “Humanities majors, what do you expect?”

Lucy slugs her in the shoulder. “Fuck off, Danvers.”

“Next!”

Lucy shoves her girlfriend forward again when she hesitates. “Science major wimp.”

“I hate you.” Alex steps up and shows her I.D. “Alex Danvers, Breaking Beakers?”

“Your whole band here?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The young woman in front of the computer eyed her strangely. Between the multiple facial piercings, the tattoos, the skin-baring leather and fishnet, and the brightly colored hair, she probably wasn’t used to being ma’am-ed much.

Lucy snickered.

The woman digs through the manila envelopes in front of her, finally pulling one out. “Okay. Here’s your passes and the set order. Keep an ear out though, it’ll be announced over the speakers if anything’s changed due to drop outs. You’ve got a bay with that number for gear storage… but I wouldn’t just leave it unattended, if, you know, you can’t afford to replace it. This battle gets dirty some years.”

Lucy tries to blink away the thoughts that come full force at that phrasing, resisting the urge to add _so do ours_.

Alex nods again. “Thanks!”

Lucy tucks her arm into Alex’s and begins to weave them through the crowds. “Let’s find your band and the others, yeah?”

She’s nice enough not to point out how very pale her girlfriend is growing. She even tries to be discreet while looking around for some sort of bucket, just in case.

*

With Maggie tasked to guard the bands gear, Kara weaves her way through the building crowd towards the bar. She’s got enough cash on hand for some bottled water for the band and some soda for herself, Maggie and Lucy. The first band doesn’t come on for at least another hour, but already the crowd is rowdy and far past what Kara would enjoy being around. For Alex however, she will make sacrifices. This being one of them.

She knows just how important this competition is to Alex and the band.  Scouts from all the big labels turn out every year, not to mention the prize money that could go a long way towards booking some time in a studio for the band. So Kara finds herself standing in line, squashed between someone in front of her who is almost certainly on some sort of upper, and a drunk guy behind her who Kara is working very hard to ignore.

It’s getting increasingly difficult when the line keeps getting jostled and moved by the ebbing crowd, all eager to get as close to the stage as possible. She is keenly aware of how the drunk behind her is inching closer and closer. Kara can feel his eyes on her, can hear the uneven pattern of his breathing and she’s nearly overwhelmed by the reek of alcohol.

If she hadn’t promised to return to Maggie with an armful of drinks, Kara would have made her escape by now. Even with the promise Kara is sorely tempted, but whoever organised this venue didn’t think it through because the only drinks stand is the one Kara finds herself in line for right now. The line which seems even longer than the one for check-in Kara caught a glimpse of as she pretended to struggle under the weight of the bands gear.

The drunk behind Kara staggers forward for no reason at all and Kara has to step quickly to avoid his groping hand. Even so it’s nearly impossible to do that successfully and avoid colliding with the stranger in front of her who looks as if he’s on a whole other planet. It leaves Kara stuck with one foot planted so she doesn't fall over onto the already sticky hardwood floor, but within touching distance of Sir Drunko Creeps A Lot.

Sir Drunko’s hand comes to Kara’s shoulder and it takes all her effort not to side step out of his reach “Hey pretty lady.” he slurs at her in what Kara is sure he thinks is an incredibly attractive manner.

“I’m not interested.” Kara says firmly.

“You don’t even know what I want.” The man accuses “You don’t even know my name.”

“I said I’m not interested.” Kara repeats, bordering on aggressive, the way Alex taught her.

Sir Drunko’s hand hasn’t left Kara’s shoulder, but when it does it skates down her back and Kara knows he’s going to try and cop a feel. She spins around grabbing his wrist “Don’t.” she says, aware of just how oblivious the crowd is the what’s happening.

Kara is also keenly aware of just how outmatched the man is. Not that he knows her strength of course, or the fact that she could burn a hole right through him if she felt so inclined. Yet while Sir Drunko thinks he’s the man of the hour, Kara finds herself grappling with the urge to snap his wrist, the urge to find a shower, and the urge to just flee the premises altogether. The noise, the jostling and the people she could all handle, for Alex. The introduction of this persistent stranger into the mix leaves Kara struggling for her control.

A feat which becomes twice as hard when the mans other hand comes to her waist, his grip tight.

Kara freezes. The crowd pushes in, pressing them together. “Let go of me.”

“Oh, come _on_. Light’n up a li’l-”

A little voice in her head whispers to her - _What would Alex do?_

Kara does what Alex would, and immediately regrets it.

The crunch of cartilage and the spray of blood brings her back to the moment.

The moment is horrifying.

Sir Drunko lets go, at least. To grab at his bleeding nose. Cursing loudly enough to be heard over the crowd.

“Bitch!”

“I said let go!”

“You fuckin’ bitch.”

The crowd is paying attention to her now.

It’s so much louder now.

Her breath comes faster.

Someone calls for security.

“Don’t touch women without permission!” Kara spits out, shoving herself backwards.

Her hands are shaking as she digs for her phone, shaking harder as she texts Lucy. Alex- she can’t ruin this for Alex. But Lucy will know what to do.

Lucy will be able to help.

_Broke a nose. Help???_

She can hear the guys of security- not as big as the guys at some of the places Alex plays, not expecting real trouble. She hears Sir Drunko swing out at where she was and hit someone else.

She hears the noise grow.

She runs.

*

Oblivious the growing chaos in the main ballroom, Maggie finds herself standing guard over a small mountain of gear. The boys are sitting with her now, fiddling with instruments and reading through the set list - they are luckily or not, one of the first bands to play today. Maggie’s not sure if that is good or bad news for the band.

Alex is back as well , lost to the world as she focuses on turning her guitar. She still looks considerably more pale than she did this morning and Maggie knows that no amount of conversation or distraction will help Alex at this moment.

Through trial and error Maggie and Lucy found a series of small ways to help Alex manage her pre-performance anxiety. The most frequently used of which is simply being present. Often there’s nothing they can say or do that will temper Alex’s anxiety quite like being in the same space as her. It’s a role Maggie is happy to play, especially today of all days, but she’s distracted from her task by the chime of her phone going off.

Fully prepared to ignore the incoming call, Maggie fishes her phone from her back pocket and glances at the caller ID on the screen.

Her aunt.

Maggie pauses, and feels her heart pick up the pace. It’s not unusual for her aunt to call her out of the blue like this, but it’s still the early hours of the morning in Nebraska and Maggie knows for a fact that the cows would still need milking at this hour. So,

so she wants to pick up the phone.

Catching Alex’s attention, Maggie shows Alex her screen and Alex nods quickly before turning her attention back to her guitar. It’s all the permission Maggie needs to move away from the thrumming business of the backstage and head for a quieter corner. Whilst on the hunt, Maggie answers the phone

“Hey,” she says at once, cutting out her usual greeting entirely in favour of asking “Is everything okay?”

There’s a beat of silence on the other end before  _“Maggie I have some bad news.”_

Maggie’s world seems to slow, how many times has she prefaced a conversation with a victim like that?

She sees an exit and pushes open the door, letting the cool morning air wash over her. Not that she notices it right now, all of her attention is focused on her aunt and what she’s about to say “What is it?” Maggie presses “What happened? Are you hurt?”

_“I’m fine.”_  her aunt soothes _“I’m fine.”_  there’s a pause and Maggie finds her stomach in her throat before _“But I have news about your mother.”_

“My-” Maggie pauses “What happened?” she asks, breathless, barely prepared for the answer.

_“She’s in the hospital."_

“What happened?” Maggie asks. 

_”The doctors say she has had a stroke.”_

Maggie feels like she’s going to be sick.

She heads for the door, her steps unsteady.

“She- is she- are-” Maggie stutters, unsure of what she wants to know, or what to even ask.

_”It… it doesn’t look good, mija.”_   Her aunt sighs.  _”The pendejo didn’t want me to call you, but I… I know you needed to find out.”_

Visions of her father throwing her out dance across her eyes, flashing across in seconds and years at the same time. The cold of the snow hitting her face, the weight of a single duffle bag. The burn of the single family photo in her pocket she secreted out along with her teddy bear and a handful of clothes.

Her mother’s absolute silence.

Maggie swallows. “Should-”

The chill of the outside hits her face, the sound of the heavy metal bar of the door barely registering, the slam of it closing behind her not registering at all.

The brick scrapes against her back as she slides to the ground, her knees coming to her chest.

Tears are hot on her cheeks, leaving trails that cut through the dust of years of memories she makes a point to repress.

“I should come home.”

_”Mija…”_  Her aunt sighs again, heavy with the truth  _”Come if you need to. But mija… they will not welcome you.”_

Maggie swallows and presses her free hand to her eyes.

It’s her mother.

Her mother who raised her.

Who loved her.

Who stood aside while her father threw her out.

Never called.

Never wrote.

Hasn’t spoken to her in years.

And her father will be there.

All of his good Catholic friends.

He’s her husband.

He could stop her from seeing her mother.

She could fly all the way out there and not even see her.

Maggie’s breath tore at her throat, dragging up and out leaving claw marks with each exhale. “Tia…”

*

Lucy is moving outside with her phone clenched in her hand, Kara’s stream of text messages had made little sense. Which, considering, worries Lucy all the more. The most coherent of Kara’s texts told Lucy that maybe there had been a fight, maybe Kara had busted some guys nose and know Kara was by the car, presumably panicking. Which, Lucy gets.

She sees Kara before Kara sees her and Lucy has a moment to see the hunched shoulders, the way Kara is cradling a hand close to her stomach. Lucy can see the ragged breathing in the uneven rise and fall of Kara’s shoulders. The only good thing is the flicker of relief across Kara’s face as she clocks Lucy’s approach.

“Hey,” Lucy says quietly, keeping a small measure of distance between herself and Kara until Kara made it clear what she wanted or needed from Lucy “Hey it’s okay.” she tries to reassure.

There’s blood on Kara’s hand, the one cradled close to her body. There’s blood on the sleeve of Kara’s hoodie too. Lucy presumes the blood is not Kara’s.

“I-” Kara starts but her voice is shaking and she doesn’t seem all that connected to the space they’re in.

“Can I touch you?” Lucy asks, hesitating with the question but she wants to hug Kara, wants to pull her close and ground her to the moment.

“Yes.” Kara nods “Please.” she adds.

It’s all the permission Lucy needs. She crosses the space between them and wraps her arms around Kara, holding her tight. Like this Lucy can feel the way Kara is trembling.

“What happened?” Lucy asks after a minute of silence, of holding Kara like this.

“There was a guy,” Kara says “in line. He was drunk.”

Lucy grimaces, already angry.

“He wouldn’t stop touching me.” Kara says quietly, voice wavering “And it was too loud in there. There were so many people. I needed, I lost -” her words fragment and Kara trails off “I broke his nose.”

Lucy’s first reaction is to give Kara a high-five, but somehow that seems inappropriate for the moment “Good.” Lucy says firmly “You did nothing wrong.”

“I broke his nose.” Kara reiterates, as if Lucy didn’t hear her the first time.

“You said he wouldn’t stop touching you.” Lucy points out “You said he was drunk.”

“Yeah, but,”

“Kara,” Lucy cuts off “Kara I would have done the same thing.”

That gets a wet laugh from Kara “I, just before I did it I thought about what Alex would do.”

“And then you decked him in the face.” Lucy says, trying and failing to bite back her own amusement.

“Yeah.” Kara says.

“Alex will be so proud.”

“We can’t tell her.” Kara says quickly “I don’t, she’s got enough to think about with the competition.”

“We won’t tell her.” Lucy says, soothing as best she can “Not yet, okay?”

“I-I don’t think I can go back in there.” Kara says “It’s too much. It’s too loud, too many people and stuff going on.”

“That’s okay.” Lucy says “I promise.”

“But Alex-”

“Will completely understand. Even if we were in there, she wouldn’t be able to see us in the crowd anyway.”

“She can see _me_ , you and Maggie are the ones shorter than the bar stools.”

“Fuck off, Little Danvers.” Lucy glares at Kara, her sympathy evaporating slightly. “That’s a low blow.”

It’s almost automatic the way Kara responds, staring down at her flexing hand. “It has to be to hit you.”

Lucy is a little mad at herself for wanting to high five her for the comeback. Little Danvers has come a long way from the super nice and super polite- at least to Lucy and Maggie- and become a real human being. Human-ish.

Fuck it. Lucy wraps an arm around Kara’s shoulders and squeezes. “Alex is going to rock this, the nerd herd will win, they’ll be rich and famous and she’ll talk me into somehow still feeding you with my dad’s money on the promise of sexual favors-”

“ _EW!_ _!!_ ”

“Point is, Alex will be fine. We’ll hang out here-” Lucy’s phone buzzes insistently in her pocket. One. Two. Three. Texts, one right after the other. She wiggles, dragging it out of her back pocket while still leaning into Kara.

_Luce_

_oustide_

_need u_

Lucy’s head jerked up. She looks around, but there’s no Maggie. “Mags…”

Kara freezes. “Something wrong with Maggie?”

Lucy bites her lip and hits the call button.

It rings.

And rings.

And rings.

And- she picks up.

Maggie’s breathing is ragged and choked on her end.

“Mags? Mags where are you? Kara and I are outside-”

_“Band-”_  Maggie gasps.

Her voice is choking on something.

Lucy frowns and pokes at Kara’s side. “Band?”

Kara’s head tilts and she listens. The brick wall blocks enough of the noise from the crowd that she can hear Maggie.

Sort of.

Her heartbeat is irregular, but it’s there.

“She’s upset.”

“Mags, hang on. We’ll be right there, right Kara?”

Kara nods and stands, pulling Lucy back to her feet. She’s already leading her around the back. “Loading dock, I think. Where we brought the equipment in.”

Lucy nods. She talks into the phone, her own breath picking up as she begins to run. Her worry growing. It’s unlike Maggie to be out of words.

There’s nothing but stuttering breath on the other side of the phone. The occasional half-interrupted sob.

They round the building.

She’s so small, curled up against the wall near the door.

If anyone opens it, she’ll be hit by the door.

And she clearly doesn’t care.

Kara slides to a stop next to her, her own problems forgotten. “Maggie?”

Lucy curses Kara’s long-ass legs. She’s there a moment later, pulling Maggie to her. She takes the phone from Maggie and hangs up their call, noting the last one was from her Tia. “Mags. Mags. Baby, c’mon.”

Maggie sobs through broken Spanish, words that Lucy didn’t learn in the bedroom and could only sort of follow.

Kara, though, crinkles through it. She looks more and more worried as Maggie stumbles on.

The more worried she looks, the tighter Lucy squeezes Maggie.

Maggie squeezes back just as hard.

“Her mom is in the hospital…” Kara whispers.

“ _Fuck._ ” says Lucy.

*

Stepping out on stage nearly always bring Alex the same feeling. There’s a mixture of exhilaration and excitement, the fading of her nerves as a morning of waiting and worrying seeps away. Here, with her guitar in her arms, it’s easy for Alex to lose herself in the sheer joy of performing.

The crowd is appreciative almost at once. The roar is deafening and Alex is reminded that while this isn’t their biggest audience, it probably breaks through the top five. She spends a few precious seconds scanning the crowd, but can’t see Kara, Maggie or Lucy. It doesn't worry her though, the room is packed and the lights of the stage are bright. She’s sure they’re there.

They have enough time on stage for two songs and Alex closes her eyes, allowing her fingers to play the opening chords of the first song by nothing more than muscle memory. From there, everything is a blur. A wonderful blur. Performing often does this for Alex, gives her a rush before she’s even left stage. Even this, with the back of her mind reminding her about the presence of record label scouts and fuck knows who else, has Alex practically vibrating with excitement. She channels the energy into her performance, into charisma and just,

existing,

in this moment.

Two songs pass far quicker than Alex remembers them taking and sooner than she would like they’ve moving off the stage to the raucous applause and hollering of the crowd.

They nailed it.

Both her bandmates seem to share her energy, the buzz of excitement at having performed so well at such an important moment.

They’ve done their share of far more local competitions, but this,

this is the most important one to date and they just smashed it.

Wandering back to their gear bay, part of Alex clocks that all of their kit is still present and accounted for. A further part of her still clocks how thirsty she is. It takes a couple of minutes to satiate said thirst and in that time, a few of the bands other friends have filtered backstage. Alex accepts celebratory hugs and pats on the back, but something is off.

She notes that Maggie and Lucy and Kara are still nowhere to be found.

It’s weird.

Ever since that first concert Maggie and Lucy went to, they always weasel their way backstage and the security at this venue doesn’t seem all that stringent.

“Has anyone seen Lucy?” Alex asks and the crowd around them shake their head, bar one guy Alex has seen before, and may be their drummers cousin, says

“I think I saw her headed outside.”

Not unusual, Alex thinks - especially if Kara’s outside too. Which given the pure state of bedlam inside, Alex would not be surprised, nor would she blame Kara for doing so. Deciding it would be better to go on the search instead of wait here with boundless energy, Alex excuses herself and heads for the nearest door.

The door she had vaguely seen Maggie move through some time earlier.

She of course, does not expect to nearly hit Maggie with said door, or be practically face to face with Kara the moment she steps outside.

“What-” Alex starts, assessing the situation clearly.

Maggie is a mess, crying in to Lucy’s arms and her breathing coming in ragged gasps. Lucy is pale, but holding Maggie as close as she can and speaking soft words. Then there’s Kara who, who seems tense and worried and

“Are you bleeding?” Alex asks sharply looking at Kara’s hand, she’s kicked into high alert, not understanding what’s happened. “Are you okay?” she presses, looking over to Maggie and Lucy “Has something happened?”

Kara’s hand goes behind her back. “I’m fine- Maggie-”

“Kara,” Alex demands. She steps into her sister’s space and pulls out the blood covered knuckles, takes in the unbroken skin and staring expectantly up at her little sister.

“I, uh. Punched a guy, it’s not important.”

“ _Not important??!_ ”

“Keep it down, Danvers,” Lucy snarls.

Alex gives her sister a look that clearly says they’ll be talking later, even as she drops to her knees on the dock. She reaches for Maggie, her hand hesitating briefly before pushing back the hair that’s fallen into Maggie’s eyes.

Her bloodshot, tear-filled eyes.

Her fingertips brush away the tears, tracing over Maggie’s cheekbones and down the line of her jaw.

Lucy looks overwhelmed, just holding and rocking Maggie.

Alex glances up at her sister again. “What happened?”

“Her aunt called. Maggie’s mom’s in the hospital, and it doesn’t look good.” Kara shrugs helplessly. “She texted Lucy while Luce was with me. We came as soon as we could, but she was already…”

Kara motioned at the bundle of women.

Alex slides around and wraps them up, tucking Maggie and Lucy under her chin. “We’re here, Mags. Whatever you need.”

Maggie nods, her throat tight. “Home.”

“Yeah, okay. Sure, we can go home,” Lucy agrees easily.

It would take them a couple hours, but getting home was easy enough. Just hop in the car. The three of them in the back, Kara driving. Maggie should be enough of a distraction from Kara’s terrible driving, and she’d get them home sooner.

Maggie shakes her head. She worries her lip in a way she picked up from Alex. “Blue Springs.”

Alex and Lucy share a look.

They knew about Maggie’s family.

They knew it probably wouldn’t end well, no matter what condition her mother was in.

This was probably a horrible idea.

Kara scratches at her head and puts her hand out, catching the dock door before it can hit them. She shoves it closed, uncaring of whoever was on the other side. “I’ll tell the band to grab your stuff and get the car?”

Lucy releases one hand from their little huddle to grab her phone and check her card balance. She does herself a favor and adds her father’s number to the block list, at least for now. She could get them to Blue Springs and worry about the knock-down drag out fight that would come from three tickets to the middle of nowhere and the rental car they’d need to drive to nowhere’s asshole.

She glances up at Kara. “Can you drop us at the airport?”

Kara nods “Of course.”

Lucy and Alex share a look, nervous apprehension pushed down - Blue Springs here they come.

**Author's Note:**

> pls direct all shouting at bathtimefunduck on tumblr. 
> 
> jk. jk. you are more than welcome to come shout at me as well, you can find me at 4beit on tumblr.


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